It’s been a glorious week, weather-wise and events-wise.
This week saw an idea blossom, take form and run rather successfully. The idea was to run a series of nature and survival days within Strathmashie Forest in collaboration with Neil Foote from Backcountry Survival.
The days ran as morning and afternoon sessions with many kids staying for whole days or coming back to learn more over a series of days. The sessions were progressive, teaching different survival skills and showing different uses for flora found within the forest.
The children were taught about the 5 main skills needed for survival.
- Shelter (how to build survival shelters to protect you from the elements)
- Water (where to find sources of water)
- Heat (how to build a fire without matches or lighter using what you can find in the forest)
- Food (which plants are edible and nutritious)
- First Aid (how to make a stretcher to carry a casualty to safety)
The children learned how to start fires with sparks from fire steels, which plants were edible and which were not, how to build a creel out of willow, how to make cord from nettles, how to bake bread on a fire, how to safely use knives, how to navigate and how to use the charcoal from the burnt out fire to make scary tribal war paint!
The kids were totally absorbed in the sessions, becoming more comfortable with their surroundings and more up for trying things like eating raw nettles and drinking spruce needle tea as the days went on. Children who had been on previous sessions were helping those who were new to the forest and passing on all their knowledge and wisdom they had gained throughout the days.
“knowledge weighs nothing”- a motto for survivalists.
The sessions ended in time for the children to then assist The Highland Council Countryside Rangers (Duncan Macdonald and Saranne Bish) complete a Dragon Census within the forest (an event entitled Dragons in Laggan). Sightings of dragons within the Cairngorm National Park have sparked a need to complete a dragon census within the National Park to decide on areas in need of conservation status. Specific forests were chosen as prime habitats for dragons and censuses are to be carried out in these areas. The afternoon was a hoot with the children finding scratch marks, dragon claws, dragon scales and even dragon poo. The children then discovered some dragon eggs and on examination were sent screaming when a female dragon began roaring and bellowing smoke as a warning call to protect her young.
At the end of June, I assisted with an event which reminded me of Glastonbury for mini people. The event site was filled with circus style tents and mini stages, it even had stalls offering to turn apples into a spirally, deliciously healthy treats. The event was “Mr Bloom and Friends: Big Day Out” and it was held in Callendar Park. The event ran over two days, both days were very busy with hoards of children visiting our stall to come and discover all about the beasties living under and beside the water of our ponds. The children were fascinated by damsel flies in pots and our pond tank which was filled with all sorts of exciting creatures. We had dragon fly, damsel fly and beetle larvae, newts, pond snails, back swimmers, water boat men, pond skaters and caddis fly nymphs.
Nelson the Newt